I'm a lying, liar, who lies. I'm almost certain I said in my last A/N this would be up in a week. One month later and here you go!
Thank you to Joayla for the chapter title. Doesn't fit with my song title thing I was doing but fits the chapter perfectly.
Spanks and thanks go to Wytchwmn75 and Theresa from FFA. Speaking of FanFicAholics Anon, you should call come join us over there. It's a group on Facebook, I know FB is evil. But it helps support you in your addiction, or at least helps you become more addicted. Tell'em I sent you! http:/www (dot) facebook (dot) com/ #! ?gid=124663085756&v=wall
Now I won't waste anymore of your time. Gets to reading and I'll see you at the bottom.
.:.
July 6th
I hung up. Oh God, what did I just say to him? I thought back, and frantically tried to remember what I said, to who I thought was Alice.
My phone rang and this time I looked at the caller ID. It was Alice again, or actually more likely it was Edward… again. I watched it flash while the phone rang and vibrated in my hand. I watched it until it stopped before starting back up again.
Three times it rang, and three times I just watched my phone light up and then go dark. It beeped signaling that I had a voice message, and although I was beyond curious to see what he had to say I wasn't sure I could handle any more bad news.
I was still staring at my phone by the time it started to ring a fourth time, which just so happened to coincide with Rose walking into my bedroom. Effectively scaring the shit out of me and causing me to drop my phone in the process.
"How come I keep hearing music?" she asked as she looked around my room trying to discover the source of it.
I looked down at my phone watching it vibrate across the floor, and she noticed where my gaze was directed. Before I could stop her, she had already bent down to pick up my phone.
"Oh look," she began, "Alice is calling. Why aren't you answering? I'm sure she could help this bollocks of a situation you've gotten yourself into."
I was just a fraction of a second too late. Rose had already accepted the call. All I could do was watch on in mortification as she answered.
"Mistress B's house of inappropriate sex locale's, how may we service you?"
My brain went blank.
"Oh, hi," she said as her eyes went huge. "Umm… she's ahh…"
She looked over at me and all I could do was shake my head back and forth. Please God, if there is a God because right now I'm seriously doubting his existence, don't let her give that phone to me.
"No, she's in the shower. I'll have her call you when she gets out." She hung up the phone and threw it on the bed.
"Is that what all that noise was about? Is this why my place sounded like a lame No Doubt concert?"
I nodded my head, in too much shock to be able to defend the music of No Doubt.
"How many times did he call?" she asked.
I held up four fingers.
"Why didn't you talk to him?"
I shrugged. I'm not quite sure myself. All I knew was I didn't want to hear him say something bad. Like 'oh Bella, last night in the alley was fun and all but now that everyone knows I've fucked you, I'm too embarrassed to be seen with you anymore'. I'm not sure how I'd survive that, on top of everything else.
"I'm going to go shower. If he calls again, please don't answer it. I just need some time to digest everything right now. I've bitten off way more than I can chew," I said.
"Well I think you two should talk. Maybe it's not as bad as you're thinking it's going to be," she said. And before I could get anymore out she went on. "You know it can't be easy for him either. Sure he's famous, but that doesn't mean it makes it any easier to see yourself caught in the act."
Well, she may have had a point, but she wasn't completely right. At least HE was used to seeing his pictures everywhere. I avoided cameras like I was one of those tribes who thought getting your picture taken meant your soul was stolen. Hell, you'd be lucky to see ten pictures of me on Facebook, and now you can see me in a very compromising position everywhere.
"Just… Rose, please don't answer if he calls back. I promise I'll talk to him," eventually, I added on silently to myself.
I grabbed everything I'd need for my shower. I felt like shit. I hadn't showered when I got home last night, so I'm sure I still had alley dirt all over me. Add in my wonderful Technicolor yawn into the toilet this morning and I was feeling absolutely disgusting.
I started the shower and waited until it warmed up before getting in. I was so looking forward to finally feeling clean, except when I stepped in and the hot spray hit my back I yelped in pain.
There was a knock at the door and Rose asked if everything was okay. I tried looking over my shoulder to see what on my back could have hurt that bad, but it was nearly impossible.
"Rose can you come in here?" I asked.
"What's going on Bella? Did you fall?" I could hear the concern in her voice.
"No, I'm not really sure what happened," I said. "Could you take a look at my back for me?"
I turned around and she pulled open the shower curtain. I heard her gasp.
"What the fuck did you do to your back B?" she asked.
"Nothing. Why what's wrong with it?" I asked trying to look over my shoulder again.
"It's all scratched to hell. Did you get into a fight with an alley cat on your way home?"
Sighing I said, "No not an alley cat, just an alley wall."
"Oh that's dirty B, we'll need to put something on that, or you'll get an infection. Who the fuck knows what's all over those wall?" She had this disgusted look on her face, so I turned away from her. "I know it hurts but try and wash your back as thoroughly as you can and when you get out, I'll put something on it." She said, her tone suddenly getting very motherly. I honestly wasn't sure what I would have done without her here with me right now. I thanked her and she let me get to my shower.
I tried to wash my back the best I could even though it hurt like a bitch. I was hoping that a shower would help me relax, maybe give me a couple of minutes where I wouldn't need to think about the disaster that was most likely waiting to attack me outside of these walls. However, the reality was I couldn't stop thinking about it. Although my back was obviously scratched to hell I still couldn't help but smile at the reminder of how they got there.
Never, ever, would I have done something like that with anyone. At least I didn't think I would. I've invested in my fair share if PDA; I've been that girl you've scoffed at who can't keep her hands off the guy she's with, and I've also been the girl who's done the scoffing. Even so, I've never been the girl who's let the guy fuck her in a public area, dark alley or not.
But c'mon it's Edward-fucking-Cullen. No woman, single, attached, old, or young would say no to him. Not if they were sane at least. So, really, as much as I may have regretted where I had sex with Edward, I couldn't regret having sex with him. A part of me was even slightly thrilled at the scratches on back, they were proof. Pictures could be fabricated and photo shopped, scratches could not.
When I emerged from the bathroom thirty minutes later I felt cleaner, not a whole lot better, but at least I smelled good now. Rose went to work on my back almost immediately.
She was just finishing my back when my phone started to ring. Her movements stopped and we both looked over at my phone. It kept flashing Alice's name. I could almost feel Rose urging me to pick it up and talk to him, but I wasn't ready, yet. It beeped again, another message.
July 7th
We were both cuddled together on the sofa watching a movie. It had started raining not long after we had gotten up, which was perfect. It suited my mood just fine.
The phone rang again and this time Rose picked it up. Despite telling her not to answer I knew she would eventually. Hell, I was reaching my breaking point after the eighth call.
"Look, Edward, she'll talk to you when she's ready, just give her a bit of time to adjust to everything." There was a brief pause. "Oh sure, she's right here."
The phone was thrust in my face. "Umm, hello?" I said, not really sure who I was going to be speaking with.
"OH-MY-GOD Bella! You mean it's true. That's you? Why haven't you called to tell me yet? I'd be going insane if I was you. I'd be calling all of those bitches from school and rubbing it in their faces."
"Ang, is that you?" I couldn't believe she had called me. Well, no, I guess I could. I would have done the same thing if I was her.
"Of course it's me! Who else do you think it would be? By the way, you're totally paying for this call when you get back." I groaned burying my face in the pillow next to me.
"Angie what the hell am I going to do?" I asked her.
"Stop being so dramatic, Bella. You got to fuck Edward Cullen. Own that," she said.
"But, Ang, the pictures are everywhere. Everyone can see them." I was mortified.
"You know damn well if I didn't have Ben, I'd have been all over that."
"Yes if only we were all so lucky to find our true love in high school."
"Hey, Ben understands my Edward addiction. In fact, I woke him up to show him the pictures. He said he completely understands if I want to sleep with you now to get closer to Edward. He just wants pictures." She paused for a minute, and I could hear something muffled in the back ground.
I was going to hit Ben for that comment. "Don't worry; I totally hit him after he said that."
I looked up at the clock and noticed it was like five in the afternoon, for me. "Ang, what time is it? Aren't you at work?"
She huffed and I heard a loud smacking noise. "Yes I'm at work, and I'm using the company phone to call you. So okay you don't really owe me for this call, but you can't blame me for trying."
I laughed at what she said. We were always trying to con the other person out of money. I couldn't help but be grateful that she had called me. She finally managed to get me to crack a smile, and even though what happened wasn't totally forgotten at least I could laugh about it a little.
"Fuck off Mike," she said, and I could hear her talking but her voice was getting softer. "Mike, give me the phone back, I was talk..."
"Hey hot stuff. Can't even let you out of the country for a week, and already you're making me proud. I don't think I could have done better, even if I tried. And Edward Cullen no less. Way to shoot for the stars, honey."
"Mike you're an ass you know that? I can't help it if you're jealous that I got to fuck him, and you didn't."
"Don't I wish sweetie, but you know I've always liked them big. Emmett is definitely more my type. Now the things I'd let that man do to me. You know I always had suspicions that he batted for my team." I couldn't stop the giggle that came out and pointed at Rose. She was looking at me like I had lost it.
I finally managed to catch my breath. "Mike you need to talk to Rose, I'm sure she could tell you all about how big Emmett is." Rose quirked her eyebrow at me, apparently very interested in what I had to say that in reference to her and Emmett.
"Oh a size queen, huh? Bitch and I are going to have a nice long talk when I get done with you." I just rolled my eyes at him. He was all talk.
"Whatever, Mike. Just put Ang back on before you both get in trouble. You know how Lauren will look for any excuse to get us in trouble."
"Ya, well bitch better watch her back. She's got no one fooled least of all our boss, Mr. Banner. Here's Angie," he said. "You go get back on that pony, and give me all the deets when you get back in town."
"Hey, Bella," Ang said as she got back on the phone. "So, other than the whole world knowing about who's porking your pink taco, how's the rest of your vacation so far?"
"It hasn't even been a week yet, but it's been good. I've done some sightseeing. And, gah, the buildings and the history that you can see just walking around the city is amazing. I can't believe I've waited for this long to come here," I gushed.
"Good, babe. Oh, that reminds me," she said, and I could tell it was going to be either really good or really bad. "Bagel boy was in today, and he did not look like a happy camper, at all. I had one of the magazines with you and Edward Cullen on the cover and he actually growled at it before trying, for what felt like ten minutes, to rip it up before throwing it away. I had to clamp my hand over my mouth before I broke out laughing in front of him."
"Seriously, Ang! When is he going to catch a fucking clue? I have never, not once shown any interest in him." I was exasperated; this kid was never going to get it.
"Whatever, don't let it get to you. You go out and have a good time and put this all behind you and don't let it ruin your vacation. I gotta get going before the Queen Bitch comes this way and starts asking questions," Angela said.
We quickly said our goodbye's, and of course just as we hung up my phone flashed again. I hit ignore and went back to the movie with Rose.
July 8th
"Bella, I think you should talk to the poor guy," Rose said. Apparently now I was the bad person, all because I still hadn't spoken to Edward about what had happened, and the aftermath.
"It's been three days, and he's still calling. You know eventually he's just going to stop. And then what? Then where will you be?"
Three days. I had put off his calls for three days, and Rose was right, one day he would stop calling. However, I couldn't help it. Every time my phone rang, and it was him, I had a panic attack. Well, okay, not an actual panic attack, but close enough. I had absolutely no idea what I was going to say to him. Talk about the awkward conversation of the century.
My phone rang again, but before I could get to it Rose had managed to elbow me out of the way and reach it before me.
"Well hello, sexy," she said. "Oh, hey… She's right here. Just hold on a sec."
"Bella its Alice, she wants to talk to you. She said she's not taking no for an answer, and if you don't talk to her, she's coming over with all the paparazzi she can find," she said handing me the phone.
I almost said hi but gave it a second thought with the next words out of her mouth. "Trust me that was much politer than the words she actually used. Frankly, I'm surprised my ears aren't bleeding from the loss of their virginity."
I put the phone to my ear taking a second or twenty to collect myself. I had almost forgotten that Alice was friends with Edward long before I came along, and I was pretty much avoiding him now. I could only imagine the things she thought about me now. Hell, I was pretty mad at myself. I have Edward-fucking-Cullen calling me, non-stop, and I can't be bothered to say 'Hi, how are you?" I deserved anything Alice had to say to me, I really did.
"Bella, I know you're there. I can hear you breathing," Alice said.
I clamped my hand over my mouth, so she couldn't hear me breathing. "Bellllaaaa," she said again. "Stop being such a baby and just talk to me."
"Hi, Alice." Was all I could manage to get out.
"OH-EM-GEE!" she squealed so loudly I had to pull the phone away from my ear. "You do speak! We were all convinced you had lost your voice in some tragic accident days ago. I mean what other reasons could you have for completely ignoring someone's calls? Just wait until I tell Edward you really are okay, you're just ignoring him. I'm sure that will make him feel so much better."
"Fuck, Alice, I know I've messed up. But, it's not like this has been easy on me either. Like I'm supposed to be okay with pictures of me doing the deed in a fucking alley?" Now that I was finally talking about it, I wanted to throw up again.
"Video too."
"I'm sorry, could you repeat that?" I asked calmly.
"I said," she began. "There is a video too."
I'm pretty sure I gasped so loudly I sucked all of the oxygen out of the room. She did not just tell me there was possibly a video of me and Edward Cullen fucking!
"Listen Bella. It's not that bad. Its horrible quality and Edward's people are already working on having it taken down." She was talking to me like I was some wild rabid animal that was ready to attack, which when I thought about it, wasn't that far off.
"Alice, I'm not sure I can deal with all of this. I'm just an average ordinary person from Seattle. I don't do fame. I'd be put in jail for punching people. I value my privacy too much. I can't. I just can't." I know I sounded panicked, but it was because I was. How could I not be?
"Bella, just settle down. Take a deep breath. You won't be alone. You'll have all of us behind you. Edward's already crazy over you. He'd never just leave you alone to fend for yourself," she said. "He's been beside himself trying to get in touch with you, and every time you ignore his call, I swear I see his ego crushed just a little more. And, while, don't get me wrong, I love to watch a good ego crushing as much as the next girl, but this is getting pathetic."
"I just don't know if I can do this Alice." And while I wasn't sure if I could, I really wanted to give it a shot. Like really, really, wanted to.
"Look, just give him a shot. Give the whole thing a shot. Worse case, it doesn't work, and Edward will go around telling anyone who will listen how you broke his heart, and you ended things with him." She could tell I was cracking, and I had to admit the prospect of being the girl who had broken his heart and not the other way around was rather appealing. You know, if things didn't work out. It'd be nice to not be just another girl left on the wayside.
"Just let me think about it, okay?" I asked.
"Bella I think you should see him. Talk to him. Try and work it out."
"Look, Alice, I can appreciate you trying to look out for Edward. I know he's your priority, and I get that, but please don't push me on this. I have to do this in my own time, or I'll really freak out."
"What if I come and you and I can take a ride or a walk or something and just talk?" she asked me.
"I dunno Alice." I wasn't sure about this plan. Something told me not to trust her. "How about you just let me think about it, and I'll let you know, in the meantime tell Edward that I will call him, as soon as I can."
"No, it's okay I'll swing by. You're not that far from me and to be honest I missed seeing both you and Rose. As crazy as that sounds, I mean I know we just met, but I already feel like we've been best friends for years and not just days." She finished by hanging up and not giving me a chance to say anything to the contrary.
"Rose I'm so screwed, and I doesn't feel good. Alice is coming over here." She merely shrugged and started straightening all the movies and picking up all the empty take out containers laying around.
"Rose," I began, "is there something you aren't telling me?"
"What?" She was avoiding my eyes. "No, of course not."
"Rose?"
"Nothing."
"I didn't say anything"
"Fine, Alice and I both decided you're being a complete pussy about this. You need to talk to that boy and figure out what the hell you want." She looked up at the clock. "You better go shower, she'll be here in an hour."
"You mean you two have had this planned out? For how long?" I asked.
"We decided, before I even left Edward's place the first day, that if you didn't talk to him by day three we were stepping in. You had your time to gather your thoughts and get your shit together. Times up. Go shower."
Grudgingly I got into the shower. I took my time out of spite, leaving almost no time for hair or make-up. I was barely dressed and presentable by the time the hour was up, and got a sick thrill out of every sigh and huff out of Rose's mouth. Especially, when she eyed what I was wearing.
I went for absolute comfort; I tucked my hair into the back of a beanie, threw on a t-shirt, red chucks, a pair of skinny jeans and wrapped a scarf around my neck. Thanks to the rain that had washed the city clean, it was actually kind of cold.
Rose ran over to the window that over looked over the street. "She's here, hurry up."
I rolled my eyes at her before throwing my bag over my shoulder and slipping on my sunglasses.
"Don't wait up, mom. I'll call you if I plan on staying out past curfew." I joked as I ran out the door.
There was a black town car parked at the curb, and briefly it reminded me of that fateful night, but I shook it off before opening the door myself. I saw the driver getting out, but I didn't want to wait. I just wanted to get this done and over with.
"You know, Alice, you could have just come upstairs and talked to me there. You didn't have to be all, The Devil Wears Prada, and show up in a black town car," I said as I took off my sun glasses and got comfortable.
"Well, what did you want to talk about?" I said as I heard the locks on the door click into place.
I looked over at her and felt my stomach flutter and drop.
"You're not Alice."
.:.
Worth the wait I hope. Feel free to yell at me for taking for-fucking-ever, in your review. Or just leave me a review saying you hated it, or loved it, or don't care either way. Are you seeing a trend? Yes I'm actually kind of asking for reviews.
Now as much as it bugs the crap out of me that Angela goes to prom with Eric in the movie I have to say I could kiss Hardwick on her witchy nose for not having Ben in the movie. He's a blank slate for me and there are no preconcieved notions of who he is or isn't. Well we know he's kind of geeky, ok, alot geeky. Nothing wrong with that. So I went on a google image search for hot/geeky guys and came up with this...
http:/26 (dot) media (dot) tumblr (dot) com/tumblr_kp94fgofWq1qzdlspo1_
... le sigh. I know It's Chris Pine. But it works because all of my characters are adults and are based more off of what the actor looks like, not so much the character. Hence the confident, best friend you always wanted, Angela.
I love each and every one of you who read this, review this, rec this. I love you all. I'm feeling mushy.
